family portraits – Elena Arvasi Portrait Photographer

Gilda is the daughter of Chiara and Christopher. Chiara and I were in the same class in elementary school, and we were born just 48 hours apart! I had promised Chiara I would give her a portrait as a gift for her 40th birthday. The expected delivery date was July 13, 2023. As life, quite often, doesn’t go as expected, the actual delivery was a couple of years later, on May 24, 2026, the day of her daughter’s First Communion… Chiara and Christopher invited me to the ceremony and the luncheon, so I killed two birds with one stone by taking a few extra photos to make up for it! Chiara, to me, you’ll always be 40! As for the Communion of Gilda, who seems older and more mature than her 10 years, I realized two things: 1) Chiara’s idea of butterflies in boxes to be released was a triumph!; 2) Gilda’s favorite person is definitely her dad, Christopher! Thank you for the wonderful day and for your friendship!

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I took some portraits of this lovely family last weekend and I’ve been on tenterhooks for a week… I used two analogue cameras, the Canon EOS 850 and the AT-1. I’d already used the EOS 850 (which is fully automatic) with good results, whereas the AT-1 was a complete unknown to me. To be frank, I’d NEVER used a fully manual film camera before! So before I started, I was quite nervous…Luckily, the girls were two natural models; the older one was spontaneous and calm, and I loved the way the little one posed in front of the camera, she was so at ease, you can tell that she enjoyed it, just like a real actress!

Cristiano and Maria, thank you for the trust you’ve given me, and see you soon for a summer series of shots!